The potential of sustainable development in Costa Rica

✍ Scribed by Joanna Becker

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 151 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0968-0802
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1719(199812)6:3<123::aid-sd96>3.0.co;2-k

✦ Synopsis

While action towards sustainable development is now being undertaken at all levels, much of this will need to be addressed at a local level. Research was undertaken to evaluate the extent to which progress in sustainable development of tropical forest areas is occurring locally. Costa Rica was selected as the most suitable country for this research since it has been in the vanguard of natural resource preservation and promotion of sustainable development. At the same time, however, it has had the world's highest rate of deforestation of tropical moist forests during the 1980s and exhibits many of the same pressures facing other developing tropical nations.

Numerous local efforts in Costa Rica were discovered which are making progress towards sustainable development. Their future is threatened, however, from macro-policy constraints such as foreign debt, land inequities and promotion of unsustainable land practices. In addition, the very atmosphere that is conducive to sustainable development has contributed to an influx of foreign investment encouraged by government incentives. This paper reviews these difficulties and offers some solutions. 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.